Pre-made dishes should thank Luo Yonghao.

Author | Xie Yunzi 

Editor | Zhang Fan

Cover Source | Company's official website

The "feud" between Luo Yonghao and Jia Guolong has finally come to an end.

Yesterday afternoon, Xiabei issued an "Apology Letter", stating that it would adjust the pre - processing in the central kitchen to on - site processing in the stores as much as possible. "We welcome customers to continue to put forward improvement suggestions and will actively and continuously carry out rectifications."

Immediately afterwards, Luo Yonghao decided to "give up further pursuit of Xiabei". At the same time, he emphasized that "he is not against pre - made dishes, but only advocates that catering enterprises should give consumers the right to know when using pre - made dishes. They cannot pass off pre - made dishes as freshly cooked dishes."

Surprisingly, this dispute and the aversion of some Chinese consumers to pre - made dishes have not brought too many negative impacts on the capital market.

Since the opening of the market on September 15th, the "pre - made dish sector" has been on the rise. Among them, "Delisi", which produces and sells frozen meat products, hit the daily limit. The stock prices of established pre - made dish - related enterprises such as Weizhixiang, Sanquan Foods, and Huifa Foods, as well as Qianwei Yangchu, Guochanshuilian, Longda Meishi, and Fucheng Co., which supply goods to Xiabei, all rose across the board.

Tabulated by 36Kr based on public information

According to the news, the rise of the pre - made dish sector may be related to the review and approval of the draft of the "National Food Safety Standard for Pre - made Dishes" led by the National Health Commission. According to a report by Yicai, the draft will be open to the public for comments. By then, there may be a unified statement about the "identity" of pre - made dishes, and whether and how catering stores use pre - made dishes will also be included in the scope of information disclosure for the first time.

Reviewing this dispute, the main controversy between the two sides comes from the differences between the central kitchen and pre - made dishes.

The reason why Jia Guolong "stubbornly" refuses to admit that Xiabei uses pre - made dishes may lie in the frequent chaos in the industry due to its disorderly development.

In 2024, the CCTV "3·15 Gala" exposed that some pre - made dish manufacturers used "lymphatic meat" to make "Stewed Pork with Preserved Vegetables" products, and the public's resistance to pre - made dishes reached its peak. People generally worry that pre - made dishes may have problems such as excessive preservatives, insufficient freshness of ingredients, and nutrient loss.

Under such sentiment, there is also a difference between the industry's definition of pre - made dishes and consumers' perception. In other words, the "granularity" of the general public and practitioners is "not aligned". In the process of discussing what pre - made dishes are, a notice from the Market Supervision Administration is most often mentioned in the catering industry.

In March last year, six departments including the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued the "Notice on Strengthening Food Safety Supervision of Pre - made Dishes and Promoting High - quality Development of the Industry". The "Notice" believes that pre - made dishes are pre - packaged dishes made from edible agricultural products as raw materials, without adding preservatives, and pre - processed industrially, which can be eaten after heating or cooking. This is the first official definition of pre - made dishes at the national level. It is worth mentioning that the dishes made in the central kitchen are clearly not included in the scope of pre - made dishes.

So how should we understand the concept of the central kitchen?

According to Jia Guolong, pre - made dishes are finished products. They are cooked, frozen, unpacked, and then heated for direct consumption. The central kitchen "pre - processes" the dishes, and most of the products delivered to the stores are cleaned vegetables and semi - finished products, which need to be further processed and cooked.

More intuitively, the pre - made semi - finished products from Xiabei's central kitchen mainly play the role of the vegetable - preparation chef in the back kitchen. Its semi - finished products cannot be simply regarded as "cooking packs" that can be eaten after being heated in water for 5 minutes.

However, such a statement is hard to convince the public, especially after it was reported that Xiabei's back kitchen used broccoli preserved with the "freezing and freshness - locking technology".

In fact, in the process of catering industrialization and chain operation, the development of the central kitchen is an irresistible trend.

In the 1980s and 1990s, KFC and McDonald's successively entered the Chinese market. Chinese cuisine began to learn from foreign fast - food experiences and explored product preservation by freezing. Around 2010, the development of commercial real estate further promoted the wave of chain catering, and the penetration rate of the central kitchen also climbed rapidly.

According to a report by "China Entrepreneur", in 2014, Xiabei began to build its own supply - chain system and gradually established production bases such as the North China Central Kitchen, East China Central Kitchen, and South China Central Kitchen across the country, realizing the construction of a full - industrial - chain model of "production base + factory + store".

Ideally, pre - made dishes can solve the problem that shopping malls cannot use an open flame, and can also maximize the avoidance of food - safety problems in small workshops or mom - and - pop stores. Looking at the long - term, the construction of the central kitchen and the catering enterprises' control over upstream raw materials can also control the gross profit margin to a certain extent, and improve the turnover rate and meal - serving efficiency of the stores.

However, times have changed. In the wave of consumption segmentation and the pursuit of affordable catering, chain catering enterprises that use a large number of pre - made dishes and have relatively high prices are on the opposite side of the public.

Compared with Xiabei, Laoxiangji, which has repeatedly attempted to go public, clearly defined the pre - made and semi - pre - made processes, and timely reduced prices, has become a "positive example". Some consumers also found that the dumpling brand Xijiade covered up the slogan of "Reject Pre - made Dishes" in the publicity signs of its offline stores.

As Luo Yonghao said, what consumers resist is never the innovation of business and service, but the deprivation of the right to choose and the neglect of the right to know. It is believed that after this "pre - made dish" storm, leading chain catering enterprises will use pre - made dishes or the central kitchen in a more standardized and transparent way.

Screenshot from a report by Head Leopard Research Institute

However, it is a clear fact that the pre - made dish industry in China is still in its early stage of development. It is often compared with the Japanese market, which is also an East Asian country.

In more public media reports, the development of pre - made dishes in Japan has also undergone a long - term consumer education process. In the 1970s, the pre - made dishes in the B - end market first saw a large - scale increase. With the changes in the population structure such as aging, low birth rate, and singleness, residents' pursuit of convenience in cooking has increased, and the C - end market has begun to grow significantly.

The "Nihon Keizai Shimbun" once published an article stating that as of 2024, the market size of pre - made dishes in Japan has exceeded 10 trillion yen, covering more than 90% of supermarket and convenience - store channels.

A news report in August last year even showed that the "fresh - fried curry bread" in Japan's 7 - Eleven convenience stores sold more than 76.98 million pieces in 2023 and was awarded the Guinness World Record certification. And this curry bread is, of course, a genuine pre - made dish.

According to a survey by the "Asahi Shimbun", more than 60% of Japanese office workers cook for themselves no more than twice a week, and nearly 40% of them rely on supermarkets, convenience stores, or frozen foods to solve their three meals.

In contrast, although the development path of the pre - made dish industry in the Chinese market is similar to that of Japan (transitioning from the B - end to the C - end), there are still two major differences.

On the one hand, Japan has established relatively high food - production standards for pre - made dishes and has strict requirements for raw materials. For example, it prohibits the use of some food additives allowed internationally. The shelf - life of refrigerated products is usually from a few days to a week, and frozen products can be stored for several months. The storage temperature is strictly regulated.

The pre - made dish industry in China still highly depends on catering and take - out channels, and the corresponding official standards are still being introduced.

On the other hand, the Chinese market is vast, and the infrastructure of cold - chain logistics is still concentrated in coastal and first - and second - tier developed cities. It is difficult for the sales of pre - made dish products to break through regional restrictions in the short term. Therefore, most of the existing pre - made dish enterprises in China are small - scale and region - specific.

Recently, relevant listed companies have also expressed their views on the topic of pre - made dishes.

Qianwei Yangchu responded to investors, saying that it deeply understands and highly values the current trust challenges in the pre - made dish industry in the market and has taken a number of countermeasures, formulating quality - management systems for different business links.

At the performance - release meeting, Xia Jing, the chairman and general manager of Weizhixiang, said that the pre - made dish industry has both prosperity and challenges. While the market scale is growing rapidly, the industry also faces problems such as inconsistent standards, food safety, and regulatory standards. With the gradual introduction of relevant standards, in the long run, high - quality brand power will be people's consumption choice.

Guolian Securities once issued a research report, pointing out that the pre - made dish industry in China will be driven by multiple factors and grow rapidly. It is estimated that the market size will reach 674.9 billion yuan in 2030, and the CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) in ten years may exceed 10%.

It is believed that in the future, with the continuous penetration of the pre - made dish industry, the catering form in Chinese society may undergo profound changes.

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